Chapter 622: Early Friction
The attendees had already been warned previously to keep their minds in check when laying eyes upon Abaddon for the first time.
Eye-witness accounts from the battle at Asgard described him as ferocious, beautiful, a walking wet dream, dangerous, and several more colorful words to describe an unbelievablely attractive person.
Descriptions like that tend to make one wary.
Even if the one arriving wasn't the current ruler of the Abyss, tensions still would have been running high.
Deities of beauty and sexuality tend to cause massive amounts of trouble and stir conflicts wherever they tread- sometimes intentionally, others on accident.
And with Vovin supposedly being the most powerful and unresistable among them all, most were far too worried to even look at him.
And yet, as a clawed foot stepped through the portal, none could find it within themselves to look away.
A very tall man with deep black skin stepped into view.
From the moment that he appeared, he was breathtaking.
He was adorned in a long black ceremonial skirt woven with draconic markings down the center.
A matching robe was draped over his shoulders like a cape- concealing only his arms and any weapons that he may have had at his sides.
The golden colored tattoos running across his exposed chest did their job of hypnotizing a few of the attendees because they couldn't stop staring.
His twin colored hair fell all the way to the back of his knees and swayed like long reeds in the wind.
After taking a single glance at him, the gods immediately felt as if the descriptions they were provided were unfounded.
They were way undersold about his appearance, and more than a few details were left out or wrong!
But the real kicker in all of this was that ten more women came streaming out behind him who were his exact equals in attractiveness.
It was a bad day to be underwear in this room- either you were going to be poked to death or waterboarded relentlessly.
A woman with blue skin at the back suddenly realized that they were missing someone, and she quickly turned around and pulled another person out of the portal.
A red-faced woman who bore a striking resemblance to some species of oni.
The rest of the group looked to be quite content in this environment, but only she seemed nervous.
The blue skinned woman gently pushed her to the front of the group, where she immediately clung to The Black Dragon.
His full lips spread in a mildly amused smile and over half the heartbeats in the room skipped a beat.
Abaddon dragged all three of his golden eyes across the room and quietly took in the setting.
'A banquet…? Wait…'
Only now did he realize that the whole place was shaking because of his presence.
But that shouldn't have been happening.
He glanced at Audrina on the other side of him and gave her a quick once over.
Like him, she was fine.
Her power didn't seem to be affected anymore than his, making him feel just a bit confused.
He could sense Yesh's presence in the air around him- but he couldn't see him sitting at the table.
In the end, he simply attributed this phoenomina to him, and left it at that.
'To bring me here with all of my power intact… Are they just overly sincere, or just foolish?'
In a flash, two individuals appeared in front of Abaddon and his group.
One he recognized as the blue-skinned Shiva.
The other was a new figure he didn't quite recognize… but yet, felt overly familiar with.
"Thank you for coming, dragon. I admit I was afraid you might reject my proposal." Shiva held out his arm in a friendly gesture.
Remembering his mother Imani's words, he met Shiva's gesture with one of his own, but barely cracked his lips in a half smile.
"Well, it isn't often that I get invited to a gathering like this. Attending seemed like the natural thing to do."
Shiva seemed surprised by Abaddon's mild pleasantness- as he almost expected him to be a more aggressive and hostile personality.
"I am glad you feel that way. Please, let me introduce you to the man who is playing host for this evening. Indra."
Shiva gestured to the man who had been standing silently beside him all this time.
He was a red-skinned god with a simple curly black mustache and a very un-simple outfit.
His only clothes were a pair of pink satin pants, and more beads, rings, and bracelets than a jeweler stocks in a year.
Now that he was getting a better look at the man, Abaddon realized why exactly he felt so familiar with him.
There are certain individuals who have a higher 'appreciation' for one of his aspects than others.
Basically, sex addicts.
With people like that, there minds were basically like an open book to him, requiring significantly less effort to sift through. In fact the process was so much easier he could do it on accident if he wasn't paying attention.
Indra was no different.
And Abaddon could not say that he liked what he saw in the slightest.
"Namaste, Brother Aba-"
Just as Indra was about to put one of his own hands out for a handshake, Shiva moved even quicker than he could have dreamed and stopped him.
He stared at Abaddon warily, and with a small hint of exhaustion.
"He's upset you already? He has hardly done anything."
"I can hear his thoughts around my wives. I came here with my own temper in check, but disrespect of that nature tends to make me unreasonable. Had you not intervened just now, I would have already had his life."
Indra's face paled. "N-Now wait just a moment-"
"Be silent." Shiva warned.
He was no stranger to Indra's well-documented history of serial cheating.
Even the wife of his own closest friend was not off limits for him, nor were the wives or daughters of many other men.
He thought that the fear of certain death might be enough to cage his impulses, but apparently not.
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"I understand the severity of this matter, but I ask you to spare him just once as a favor to me."
"And why would I do you in particular any favors..?"
"Because I procured this annoying little device to communicate with you." Shiva held up his phone the same way that a new parent might a dirty diaper. "At your request I might add."
"Is this not easier than finding a 100-pound reptile to sacrifice to me every time that you want to talk?"
"In terms of headache they are about the same."
Abaddon felt a small migraine developing in the recesses of his brain.
"...Take him before I change my mind. But if he should so much as glance upon a strand of their hair again, I will have his life."
"Your benevolence is most appreciated."
*Unintelligible grunting.*
Shiva waived his hand and miraculously Indra was back across the room; sitting next to his wife who was glaring daggers into the side of his head.
It's one thing to be cheated on in private, but to have your relationship so openly disregarded by your partner was an entirely new level of insulting.
Perhaps it was time that she reminded him once again that he was not the only one capable of being unfaithful in this marriage...
"Please, sit and join us. We were waiting on you to begin the banquet." Shiva gesture to the table that seemed to have magically lengthened itself to accommodate the additional twelve.
Unsurprisingly, Bekka was already sitting down and patted the chairs next to her in adorable demand.
Abaddon and his wives begrudgingly sat down at the table that was already filled with traditional dishes.
Sif started to sit a little further away, but she was surprised when Abaddon pulled her into his lap along with Lisa- simultaneously making her face redder and earning the jealousy of every woman and man in the room.
'Y-You're being really affectionate today...' she thought.
'You're free to trade places with Eris if you like.'
'N-No, I just... Am I going to get punched for this?' Sif looked at Lisa for answers.
'Not today, dear. Just enjoy the moment.' she smiled.
'I... wow.' Shocked or not, Sif didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and openly rested her head on Abaddon's shoulder, not even intending to eat.
Bekka, who was already eating, chose that moment to jump into the conversation.
'I must say, I'm surprised at you honey. I didn't think you were going to let that Indra guy go...'
'When did I ever say I was going to do that...?' For less than a fraction of a second, Abaddon's eyes and tattoos all flashed pink as he looked at Indra.
Lillian: 'What did you just do?'
'I gave him permanent erectile disfunction and a fetish for coprophilia.'
Bekka: 'What's that mean??'
Valerie: 'We'll tell you after you finish eating that curry, sweetheart.'
Bekka looked down at her plate in confusion, not really understanding the distinction between the two.
She started to pull her phone out to look it up, but Erica wisely snatched it before she could do irreparable damage to her appetite.
"Well, Abaddon.." Shiva began. "The reason why we've called you here is because we were all curious about the man behind the..."
All at once, everyone suddenly looked towards the door as a familiar overbearing presence suddenly stole their interest.
Abaddon and his wives were just about the only ones who didn't look anywhere else, because this arrival did not surprise them.
'It took her long enough to show up...'
Lailah: 'Yes, but did she bring someone with her..?'
After taking a moment to think about it, Abaddon realized that there were indeed two distinctive auras coming from the hallway.
They were just so similar that he easily mistook them for belonging to the same person.
But now that he was listening, he could clearly hear what sounded like... arguing?
"I made one mistake and this is how you're behaving? Isn't two hundred years enough time to move on by now?"
"No! And don't think I've forgotten about what happened in our alternate's world either!"
"That shouldn't apply to us! And even if it did, do I say anything when you openly try to sleep with our children??"
"Family doesn't count, you stepped outside of our agreed parameters! I told you that I'm done! You're lucky I didn't skin that bastard or that whore alive!"
Shiva held up his hand and created a blue barrier to protect the peace of this event.
'In the boundless secrets of the universe... I will never understand why those two insist on-'
*BOOOM!*
Miraculously, the doors to the hall were suddenly blown off the hinges by an opposing power.
Now that the doors were down, everyone could hear the partycrashers more clearly.
"I'm sorry... but it almost seems like you were trying to keep us out." a woman said.
"But surely that can't be the case. I know you have better manners than that, old friend." Added a man.
As the smoke gradually cleared, everyone could finally see two individuals clad in black.
One was a woman with long raven hair and a glassy, jade complexion.
The other was a man with lightless black skin and a shiny bald head.
Though this moment was clearly a serious one, Tatiana chose that moment to crack a joke that only her family would understand.
'Prepare for trouble, and make it double..!' she mocked.
Abaddon covered his mouth as he snickered before eventually devolving into a fit of full-blown laughter.
For at least twenty whole seconds, his laughter was the only sound to fill the hall- joined by the eventual chucking of the girls.
Sif was the only one who seemed not to understand.
All that she could do was stare at her ex-husband in genuine confusion.
'What a strange man I married before… but I would happily do it again.'